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Control.
Tyrants Issue 37- "Control." Front cover- on the front cover is the character many readers will recognise as SHADE, the assasin and henchman of the Gentleman. Like Null, his costume is entirely black, however, his is in fact clearly some kind of segmented, hardened armoured plastic. He has a helmet, but it is completely flat, face-covering and featureless. He has a sniper rifle in his hands, the hilts of two swords protruding over his shoulders, a bandolier with four knives across his chest and two heavy pistols holstered at his waist. On the the cover, he is crouched in the shadows of a tree, looking down the scope of his rifle. In the sight of his rifle is the back of Icarus's bald head. Narration- "Titan City, days ago." The comic opens with Titan City as it recently was, still 'Blitzkrieg City.' A blue wave of energy rips across the sky above some of the lower buildings, and out of it a figure falls. He lands in the street on his feet, as the issue shows a single page spread of SHADE on bended knees, on hand on the floor, blue energy rippling off him. "Get more like a Terminator every second. Good thing I've still got my clothes on", he thinks. He looks around. "Good thing to know that exploding time machines aren't deadly though." (*- SHADE refers to his last appearance in Infinity Society, when he was plunged through time by the 'Tunguska Explosion.') "Where the hell am I...?" He looks up at the purple sky, and the tall skscrapers. A blue narration bubble appears just below his last thought bubble. "Topgraphical layout matches imbedded memories of Titan City. However, sky unnatural colour. Either possibility of Titan City, altered by some means, likely supercriminal, or alternate dimension." "Great..." SHADE remarks out loud. Then he notices the circle of civilians around him, staring at him. "Purple sky, and some kind of mind control drug by the looks of it." A red narration box appears above SHADE's head as we turn to the next page. "Warnining- mulitple invasive atmopspheric presences detected. Attempting to attempt invasion of subject SHADE's bloodstream." SHADE draws his swords from his back. "I don't see any..." The civilians around him all say. "Velcome to Blitzkrieg City. You vill join my army." The blue narration box says; "Foreign bodies in bloodstream detected. Metallic in nature. Increasing natural bio-electric pulse to purge." "Thanks, Cerberus 1", thinks SHADE. He then looks to the civilians all around him as they slowly walk towards him and says "Sorry, I only work for paying customers." He then thinks again. "Cerberus 2, options?" "Too many potential targets." "Ah, come on, I could take some of them... then again, I don't relish killing normal humans." With that, he steps up into the air, as if climbing an invisible stairway; "Thanks for the anti-grav lift, 1." Cerberus 2, the red box, speaks again. "Switching to total invisibility." SHADE disappears. "Undetactability achieved on all electromagnetic wavelengths." "Great, so what now?" thinks SHADE as his speech bubble rises higher into the air. "The Cerberus system is an advanced reactive combat system, not an advisory intelligence" says both the red and blue narration boxes. "That was a rhetorical", SHADE responds. Narration- "Some time later." The comic cuts to show SHADE sat in a very simple apartment of some kind, sat cross legged on the floor, all of his weapons, ammunition and plastic explosives, laid out on the floor, as he counts. "Great. Stuck in a city where everybody is controlled by one of the worst Nazis in history, and he has a super-powered army to boot, and we obviously can't leave, or he'd have used his dimension spanning machine already. Never gonna get that pay from Gentleman... then again, at least I have a lasting payment." He flexes his muscles. "Though I have to put up with annoying voices in,my head. Still, nobody can see me right now. I -could- just start wasting Blitzkrieg's little army..." he picks up a clip. "Then again, nobody's paying. If I -just- start killing people, then I go from assasin to serial killer." He loads his sniper rifle. "Looks like I am going to have to ride this out." "Entire city has been slaved, yet few recognisable super heroes spotted. Likeliness of 'super hero' intervention, high", says Cerberus 1. "Thanks, I already knew that", says SHADE, as he picks up a pistol to load. Narration- "Not long ago. When the Think Tank first arrived in Titan City." The comic shows SHADE stood upon a skyscraper, his back to the reader, sniper rifle out, as in the not so far distance, he can see the huge crater that is the Impact Zone, where the team of heroes were teleported in. The next panel shows the view of the top edges of the crater, lined with dinosaur guards, mostly armed and armoured velociraptors, and a green glow from below. The panel is outlined by a HUD, with CERBERUS 1 in blue at the top left and CERBERUS 2 in red at the top right, with reticules and white squares over each dinosaur. In the next panel, the dinosaurs are shown as infa-red signatures, but the green glow is not shown. "Something's happening, and whatever it is, it isn't emitting any kind of heat or radiation." Cerberus 1; "Surmising teleportation signature." "Thanks, I already knew that." He lies down on the roof. "Let see what happens." Narration- "Seconds later." He watches as a ginormous rattlesnake tears a Reichdroid in half. "Somethings fighting whatever control system Blitzkrieg has in place." He looks back to the crater, where he sees a ginormous cartoon whale. "... the hell." He watches it as it flies past at great speed. In the distance, it crashes into something, and shortly after, turns into purple light. SHADE stands up. "Nope. Still hate supers. Never gonna get out of this purple hell." Then he sees Sonne burst out of a building. "Second thoughts... is that Tommy Gunn?" The comic shows the HUD vision again as it zooms in, as it shows Sonne's face through the red force-field dome around his helmet. Cerberus 1; "Negative, though subject shows facial similarities, as well as wielding a mechanised powersuit of the same metal, though the design and upgrades appear to be superior to that of Tommy Gunn, potentially future based or alien in origin." SHADE flexes his hands. "When it comes to advanced technology, he hasn't seen anything." "Corr-" "Shut up." He steps out into the air after Sonne, as Sonne flies down to rescue Tonic, as she falls through the sky. Standing above, he watches as he catches her. Cerberus 2: "Do you wish to adapt to new t-" "No. Maintain camouflage. The nanites are still the enemy here." He runs through the air after the two as Sonne flies off. "If anybody got this team into this place and can get them out, its him." He runs, but loses the two quickly. Cerberus 1- "Target lost. Anti-grav generators do not allow for enough speed to pursue." Cerberus 2- "Adaptation to target would allow f-" "Shut up." He looks up. "All right, high vantage. There's plenty of things trying to kill them", he says as Reichdroids fly past, firing heat beams. "Can't stop for long." He runs up the side of a skyscraper. As he uns up the building, his vision zooms in again, as he sees Omega Class reichdroids, the 120ft high flaoting giants, spewing out metallic spheres. "Somebody else fighting back." He runs to the top of the building, and looks out away from the direct centre of the city to the west, where the Omega Institute lies in ruins. His vision zooms in, as he sees Kaan'Qsst, Dark Magician and Icarus. Cerberus 1- "Target identified- Kaan'Qsst, member of extraterrestial species, Vor. Frequent nemesis of team dubbed 'Mega Heroes.' Posseses powers of..." They disappear in a flash of light, there battle done. "Cerberus 2, track that teleport signature!" "Doing so will deactivate camofl-" "Do it!" Over several panels, SHADE's body becomes completely transparent until it completely disappears. He appears behind the force of dinosaurs attacking the Tyrants. He looks to the sky. "Oh ****" he drops to the ground. He whispers. "Cerberus 2, adapt to nanites, n-" "Adapted." Lying on rocky ground, he lifts his head up slightly. "All right, these fellows are free from control. Lets see if the bad guys do better than the heroes." Narration- "When the fight is done." The Tyrants are shown from SHADE's camouflaged perspective, as Yu has joined them. "Okay, so their plan is my plan. Wait for the heroes to get us out of this. Fine." He zooms in on Icarus. "Did they call that guy Icarus... no, can't be..." Cerberus 1; "Physical description does not match files. Powers displayed appear to bear similar signature. Removal of powers of Mega Hero Parry matches known powerset, as do displays of powers associated with known Infinity Society prime targets, Chiyo, Grendel, M-" "So thats Icarus in a different body." Cerberus 1; "Unknown. Icarus is recorded deceased at the hands of The Creator." "The gun, you mean." Cerberus 1; "Human expression used as metaphor for the Gentleman's assasination of Icarus." "Well, looks like he didn't account for all of his abilities." Cerberus 2; "Capable of adapting to powerset for permanent slaying of-" "No. Don't want to draw attention to myself. Not until we're out of this... " he looks up. "Whatever ship in a bottle situation the city is in. Maybe aliens shrunk it down." Cerberus 1; "Insufficient data to conclude." Fraud and the army then appear. Cerberus 1; "Multiple teleport signatures detected." "Yeah, I have eyes." He watches as Fraud steps forward and talks to Kaan'Qsst. "That means his little army is mine" says Fraud, though SHADE is some distance from the conversation. "Nanite control is gone. Means we likely aren't far from home free." The Militia and the Tyrants disappear in several flashes. Cerberus 2; "Do you wish to trace the telep-" "Anybody would think you were cybernetically bonded to my brain or something." SHADE fades out again. The comic cuts to Fraud's command tent, as SHADE sits in a free above it. He watches as Icarus leaves. "Tempting to kill him now. He'll only cause problems." Cerberus 2. "Adapt-" "No. Maintain camouflage. Need more intel." From the tent comes the speech bubble, "I will need my equipment from Incredi-Labs." "Incredi-labs... I know that name." "Run by Doctor Graham Stevens. According to files he-" "Yeah. I know who he is and what he did. Looka like I have an ally here afterall." Narration- "Titan City, 1975. The Changing Day." The comic cuts to grey as it flashes back, though there is still colour to show the green mushroom cloud coming from Titan Beach on the west coast of Titan City. The comic cuts to show a buff, athetlic man, sat on a summer's day, in his apartment, back to the window, as the green flashes appears in the window behind. He is topless, and his toned physique is obvious, along with his military tatoos. Across his lap is a woman asleep, a beautiful woman. with long flowing ginger hair, flowing down the blonde, crew-cutted man's lap, as he lifts up a newspaper to read it. In the next panel, as the green flash spreads, he turns round to look out the window. The reader can see a black tatoo across his shoulder blades saying; 'Samuel Hayden Dean." "****!" He picks up the woman as he wakes, and throws himself onto her. The window shatters behind them. And then green gas pours in. "****! ****! Gas attack!" He covers his mouth and leaps to his feet, leaving the confused woman on the floor. He tears open a strong box with one hand, the other clamped over his mouth, as he flings her a gas mask. The reader sees more of the apartment, which is very mininmal and ordered, the only decorations being the variety of various kinds of sword along wall. "But that one, quick!" The gas mask drops in front of her face, looking at the floor. Samuel puts his gas mask on. "Emm!" She looks up at him, as her skin turns black, and horns grow from her head. "No, ****, no!" "SammmmmmmmmmRRRRRRRRRR!" She roars. In the next panel, a door is shown to the hallway. The door shatters outward in the next panel, as Samuel is butted out by a humongous, black scaled, multiple horned, bull/lizard amalgam, a horn sticking into his stomach. He is flung down the stairs. The comic cuts to show an operating theatre, as Sam has been opened up by operating tools. It is notable to the reader that one of the doctors is floated and surrounded by a blue glow, and another has bright yellow skin. "Most of his ribs broken, shattered arm and leg bones, cracked skull, likely brain down, as well as damage to several of the internal organs. Its a miracle this man is alive at all", says a human looking doctor. "But he won't be alive for long. He thought that gas mask saved him for long, but..." "You knew as well as I that he could have got -any- mutation, you do know yellow skin is the -only- mutation, I have, right?" There is a flash of light and into the operating theate, in his brass, valve and piper covered antiquated looking yet advanced human sized mechanised suit, comes the Gentleman, dressed as his name indicates, inside the helmet dome of his suit, in a bow tie and top hat, with a thin, curled moustache. He seems to step through the doctors, who do not react. "I'll take it from here, doctors." The Gentleman stands over the man. "My goodness all those injuries, and yet still alive" he says to the unconsious man, the doctors around him frozen in their poses. "You might be the man I have travelled across time looking for. I mean the Fusileers were maimed and outfitted with -my- technology. But this time, the technoilogy will be applied by moi!" He bends down. "Sorry old chap, you get used to this monologuing business... but then, I started it!" He lays metal hands across Sam's chest. The two of them disappear. The comic, still in flashback grey, cuts to show the face of the Gentleman, out of his suit, with a medical mask on. "Ah, Mister Hayden Dean. You're awake." In the next panel, more of the Gentleman is shown from an upright position, and steel walls behisn him. From off-panel comes the speech panel. "Where am I? This is no h-" Gentleman holds out his hand. "I am afraid not. You're injuries were fatal... without advanced science to aid." "What is this? Some kind of secret medical facility." "Oh my boy, very secret indeed now, let me-" "Emm? Emma. She... she turned into some kind of monster." "Yes, I'm afraid... well, after she more or less killed you... I believe... the police took, measures." The comic zooms closer to Gentleman, not showing Sam, just his hands on Gentleman's shoulders. "You telling me they killed her?" "I'm afraid the city is some chaos in your time frame!" "My -time frame.-" Sam flings Gentleman across the room. He hits a wall and goes through it. Sam looks at his human looking hands. "Oh god, I'm a mutant too..." Gentleman rises awkwardly from the ruined wall. "I assure you my boy, that that is far from the case. You are still verry much a human being." Sam is shown to the reader, looking down at himself. His face and hands and feet look normal, but his abdomen area is covered in metal, as are his arms and legs. He has no hair, as the back of his head is also metal plated. "-Human-... look at me!" Gentleman limps over, using a nearby chair to lean on. "A cybernetically enhanced human. -Not- a superhuman." "Why did you do this to me?" "Its a bio-titanium skeleton, a prototype technology I have been working on. It saved your life, along with some metal inserts into your skull, and some cybernetic augmentation to repair your brain damage. Without that, and some synthetic organs, or at least, some of the above, you would be very dead. And only because I was able to freeze time in a localised bubble around you, to freeze your body on the moment of death, to do the neccesary surgeries." "But why- why did you save my life!" He steps forward, and topples over. He hits the ground with a THOOM. "Damn, too heavy-" "Yes, the surgery is not quite complete." Gentleman heads over, and struggles, trying to pull Sam into an upright position. "I need to include something to counter the immense weight of the sheer amount of metal now in your body. I was thinking of creating some kind of implants to generate some kind of anti-gravity field to counteract the weight. I believe there will need to be some kind of comnputer intelligence implanted within you as well, to control this process, as your brain would be unable to do it consciously or otherwise." Sam sits upright and grabs him by the collar and lifts Gentleman off the ground, even when sat on the floor. "Why. Did. You save me." "Along time ago, in the late 19th century, some incredible technology was found, and used to take some crippled soldiers and send them back into action." "The Mechanised Fusileers. My Dad was obsessed with them." "And you were crippled too. The process has been... improved. I chose you as the first canditate for a new Fusileer. Afterall, you'd have been dead otherwise. And you are a veteran of several conflicts, from a long line of soldiers." Sam pushes himself to his feet with some difficulty. "And what enemy would I be fighting?" "Well, I got the impression, Samuel Hayden Dean, that you are not fond of superhumans." Sam smiles. "I take that as a show of interest? You are aware, that the first letters of your full name form SHADE, aren't you?" The comic flashes to the present. Graham Stevens is in an empty prefab building, directing in Militia carrying lab equipment. They leave, and he prizes open one of the Surge crates. "Graham Stevens, big fan" comes a speech bubble from off-panel. Stevens looks over to see SHADE leaning against a wall, beside a window, arms folded. "And you are?" says Stevens, White energy flares around his enclosed fists. Cerberus 1; "Warning. Massive energy output detected. Disruptive presence," Cerberus 2: "Augmenting bio-electric field to compensate." SHADE steps forward. "Somebody who hates supers almost as much as your supposed to." He looks out of the window at the men moving in and out of teleportation circles. "And yet here you are. And with powers." "Before you kill me, you should know that I never gave myself these powers willingly." "Not here to kill you Doc. I'm here because you might be my only friend in this dump. Another man's will made me a monster too. But I learned how to use what I am. To win. And right now, I am stuck here." "I can't get you out. Only the heroes may know how." "I know. You're waiting them out." "They'll be coming here. Whilst Kaan'Qsst does not know of you presence, you would do best to leave", says Stevens. "If I don't want them to find me. They won't." He leans against the wall again. Militia enter with equipment. Stevens look to the wall, but SHADE is gone. The men, controlled as they are, show no concern for Steven;s shocked face, and leave again. "See", says SHADE. "So, what is it you want?" "According to my files, you undid the mutation virus afflicted on the city back in the 70s, in the 90s." Stevens sighs. "As everyone must remind me." SHADE steps forward. "It was a good move. The city needed it." He reaches down and opens one of the chests, taking out a vial of green liquid. Surge. "And now these *** holes are making you undo your work. I am a monster. But so are the supers. We admit. They don't. I don't belong here anymore..." he opens another crate. "But whilst I am stuck here, I want to make sure Emma Walsh didn't die in vain. That Graham Stevens didn't make himself the world's worst, to do what was right, in vain." He takes out a vial of clear liquid and shows it to Stevens. Nullifier. "As one human to another, I'd like to help you restore a little balance." SHADE takes off a glove showing a metal hand, with holes appearing in the fingertips. "Cerberus 1, synthesis into bloodstream." He pours the vial into one of the fingertips. "Cerb 2, manufacture ammunition." He raises an arm, and opens a panel in the palm of a hand, as bullet cases, transparent, fill with liquid drop into it. He loads his sniper rifle. "You with me?" "We need the heroes to get us back. The world is in danger. The Kraan are coming." "Don't worry." SHADE grabs a few vials, and then disappears into the shadows. "I'm a very patient man." End of issue. Next: POWER WAR! A TEAM TITAN THINK TANK CROSSOVER! "